Making decisions

No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't. When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway (Romans 7:18-19).

Every day is filled with decisions: What should I wear? What should I eat? Of the many things I have to do today, which are the highest priority? And then there are those big decisions that we wrestle with less frequently: What career do I want to train for? Should I marry this person? Should I buy this car or this house?

We make decisions all the time. Sometimes we even do it wisely, first gathering information and considering the repercussions before choosing a course of action. But sometimes it seems as if our options are limited, that no matter what we decide something bad will result. When faced with such a situation, we realize that we have to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Many are convinced that humans have the capacity to do both good and evil, that the choice is up to each of us. However, that is not what the Bible teaches. According to God’s Word, we do not have truly free will. ‘Free will’ implies that you can see all the options and then choose accordingly—but sin makes this impossible. Because of our sinful nature we are born spiritually blind, unable to see those choices that please God. All we see are the evil possibilities, some less evil than others, but none of them pleasing to God. And so our ability to make decisions is limited to constantly seeking the lesser of two evils.

Jesus offers us something better. When our Lord takes up residence within us, He shares with us His ability to see spiritual things clearly. Jesus shows us the options that we could not see as blinded sinners and urges us to embrace these options. Of course, to the way we are accustomed to thinking, these new and righteous choices often look strange or frightening or too hard, and so we are constantly tempted to disregard Jesus’ way for the comfort of choosing between the devilish ways that we are familiar with; thankfully Jesus hangs in with us, and when our foolish decisions bring things crashing down on us, He is there to accept our apology, forgive our stupidity, and give us another opportunity to make a God-pleasing choice.